Then the apostle directs our attention to the 5th commandment, telling us that a mark of reprobation is that children become disobedient to parents. I am sure this was a problem throughout the Gentile world in Paul’s day, though since that was a patriarchal society it cannot possibly have been as outrageous as it is now, where very young children are taught how to disrespect authority, to speak in smart-aleck tones and phrases to their parents, and informed on every hand (including in the churches) that once they reach the age of 18 they no longer owe any allegiance to their parents. Fathers are the bumbling fools and laughingstocks of all modern comedies and commercials. Arrogant and rebellious teenagers are the norm rather than the exception among our modern youth. Is there any hope for a society which has fallen so far? This phrase of scripture surely yields more proof, if we needed any, that ours is a culture abandoned by God, and on the road to perdition.

Without understanding. One of the curses of sin is that it blinds men to reality, and causes them to adopt suicidal policies, both individually, familially, socially, and nationally. Though the proverb that says that the king is blessed by the increase of population should be self-evident to any thinking person, we see nation after nation adopting eugenics, abortion, zealously promoting birth control, as well as other practices that corrupt morality, encourage promiscuity and disease, and ultimately destroy their people. Nation after nation adopts socialist policies, which have proven over and over to destroy an economy and foster tyranny. Nations leap without thought into wars which prove their undoing, because God has stripped them of understanding. Men and women cannot keep their families together, young people cannot keep from destroying their health with tobacco and drugs, countless minions spend much of their lives in prison, all because their understanding has been corrupted and defiled by the monster sin.